The Tale of Gwaine and Ale
by writing-at-random
Summary: A great combination, eh?  After Merlin informs Gwaine of his secret, the knight decided that there is no place better to celebrate than the tavern!  What happens when Arthur walks in on a ranting, drunken Gwaine who happens to be letting secrets slip?


**A/N: Well, this popped into my head in the middle of class when I had forty-five minutes of spare time on the computer and couldn't help but think of my favorite knight, other than Arthur, Gwaine! He is so funny when drunk that I couldn't help myself. Please review and enjoy! Er, do it the other way around, though; enjoy THEN review! There we go!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, in case you were wondering, I still don't own Merlin. It's too bad, I know.**

"Merlin, old friend, you must be drunk," a sober Gwaine chuckled. The young warlock laughed along with the knight, though he was getting a tad annoyed by the lack of communication in this conversation.

The two started walking, getting into the shadows. "No, I'm telling the truth. Arthur doesn't know, but Lancelot does. I really do have magic!" he smiled, some relief washing over him. Gwaine clapped him on the back, giving Merlin a very playful, but doubting stare. Merlin sighed. "Alright," he rubbed his boney hands together. "You need proof." After thinking for a moment, he outstretched his hand, palm up. Gwaine folded his arms, waiting. "_Forbernun"_ he whispers, eyes flashing bright gold while Gwaine's own went wide. A flame appeared in Merlin's hand, dancing with the wind. Daring to glance up, he saw his friend smiling.

When the fire burnt out, the knight finally spoke. "Come on, I'll buy you a drink," he said, then paused. "Or you could save me a couple coins and magically fill an empty jug," Gwaine added teasingly… sort of. Merlin grinned ear-to-ear at him.

"You're not mad?" he asked, chuckling quickly as they walked to the tavern.

Gwaine straightened up. "Are you joking? I'm furious you told Lancelot before you told me." He slapped Merlin on the back. "Any more secrets, Merlin?"

"I'm a dragonlord," the warlock offered.

"Good God, Merlin!" he exclaimed. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

The boys laughed their way into the tavern, ordering up two full jugs of ale. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier!" Merlin chimed.

Gwaine took a swig of ale. "I am too; could have saved me a lot of trouble, a lot of tight pickles."

"Oh," Merlin laughed. "I can only imagine."

"Well, this," the knight held up his jug, "is cause for celebration. To keeping secrets from the princess!" he teased, and drank, Merlin mimicking him.

_Two Wishy-Washy Hours Later…_

"Another round!" a drunken Gwaine called. Merlin had left an hour ago on account of Arthur needing something. The knight, however, could not remember what it was being too drunk to think.

The owner of the tavern chuckled and passed the intoxicated warrior another jug of ale which reached the brim, spilling over the sides. "Hope you have the money this time, boy," the man said.

"With a knight's salary," hiccup, "the more ale the better." The whole room exploded with laughter and cheering him on in agreement and no one even noticed when a tall, blond man entered dressed in a blue tunic and brown vest, arms folded across his chest. He made his way over to Gwaine who saw him instantly. "Ah, Arthur, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

_Three Jugs and Twelve Hours of Sleep Later…_

A hung-over Gwaine woke up to the too bright light of the morning – or is it afternoon? – sun. His head ached like hell, but shuttered at the thought of taking one of Gaius' potions to cure his head. He'd rather live with the pain. Well, he was used to it!

The knight trudged out of bed, pulling on two day old pants. He rubbed his face and walked down to the armor room to prepare for training. A servant tried to help Gwaine with his armor, but these four new knights seemed to always insist on doing it themselves!

Gwaine walked out onto the training grounds to see Lancelot, Percival, Arthur, Elyan, and Leon already out. Upon seeing Gwaine, they all laughed furiously, but Lancelot gave him a wary look. What was his problem?

"Gwaine," Leon chuckled, "friend, you need to lay off the ale."

"Oh, I wasn't that drunk," he retorted.

Arthur stepped forward, waving his sword around. "Trust me, you were! At least you had the money this time." Was he ever going to live that down? That was over a year ago. Don't royals ever move on? "You were so out of it, you were rambling on about _Merlin_ having magic!" the prince laughed.

"_Oh, that's why,"_ Gwaine thought, thinking back to Lancelot's odd glare. Chancing a glance, he saw Lancelot giving him a suspicious and curious look. The second the others turned away, still laughing, Gwaine walked over to the knight. "I hear you know about our friend," he whispered under his breath.

Smoothly, Lancelot nodded, pulling on a brown glove. "How did you find out, Gwaine?"

He smiled. "Merlin told me. How'd you?"

"He was helping me and I heard him cast the spell," Lancelot answered simply. "Do you trust him?" he asked suddenly.

Gwaine looked at his fellow knight, truth in his brown eyes. "With my life," he stated. The two began their sword play, each going hard on the other. When the other knights had either been victorious or defeated, Lancelot and Gwaine were still bashing it out.

Finally, Arthur called, "Alright, if you continue, we'll be here all day." Out of breath, they dropped their weapons to their sides in surrender. They nodded respectively at one another as Merlin came over with an animal skin canteen full of water.

"Gwaine," Merlin said handing over the water. "How are you?"

Sighing, he put an arm around the warlock's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I let slip your secret in the tavern." Merlin's blue eyes went wider than ever before. Lancelot rolled his eyes at Gwaine.

"Don't worry, Merlin. Arthur thinks Gwaine was letting the ale do the talking," he clarified, and Merlin let out a huge sigh of relief. "He was also going on about having the power to be powerful."

Leon came up right at that moment, chuckling. "You do not sit in silence," he told Gwaine.

The knight broke into a smile. "I don't live in fear, either."

Then, Arthur walked over to the four friends, heading right at Merlin. The prince started laughing upon seeing Gwaine standing right next to the warlock. "Ah, Merlin, you'll never guess what Gwaine was saying about you when he was drunk out of his mind last night!"

And although he was still a bit frightened, he played his usual ignorant servant self and smiled. "No idea, sire."

**A/N: So… What did you think? Did you get the referencing to Bradley's 'You're the Voice'? Okay, I know it's not Bradley's, but we can say it is, right? Please tell me what you thought! Review! =) Virtual cookies or cakes or pizza or whatever floats your magical boat for you if you do!**


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